Movie Review

Will Ferrell in a Serious Role? Yes, It’s Stranger than Fiction
By Andrew Clearfield

Chevy Chase was the exception. For most of America’s other comic rulers, there comes a moment when it is timeto be serious. To prove to the critics that there is genuine acting skill and range behind the cheap laughs. Adam Sandler did it with “Punch Drunk Love.” Bill Murray, Jim Carrey and Robin Williamshave done it, too. In “Strange Than Fiction,” it is Will Ferrell’s turn.
For his foray into serious acting, Ferrell plays Harold Crick, a lonely accountant who one day hears his life being narrated tohim by a British woman that only he and the audience can hear. It is a premise that at first glance seems to be classic Ferrell absurdity, and early in the film the actor’s character is as ridiculousas any that he has played.
But the story turns darker when the audience learns that Harold is actually the main character in an unfinished novel, and that the author plans to have him killed.Suddenly the film becomes more than just another of Ferrell’s cartoonish romps. It becomes a story about a wasted life, about a lonely man with no connections to anyone, with no passion for anything, whois set to disappear from the planet without leaving even the slightest imprint. Without being missed.
This type of film needs a serious actor. One capable of projecting Harold Crick’s complicatedblend of vulnerability, kindness, sadness and dark humor. What the film gets is Ferrell.
This is not entirely a bad thing. It is a difficult role, and Ferrell’s performance is often awkward, but hedoes manage to convey the sad loneliness of Harold’s life.
The problem, though, -- and it is odd to say this about Ferrell – is that his performance is too restrained. Almost unbearably restrained.Playing the dark role for the first time, Ferrell strives for the understatement so relentlessly that his performance becomes paradoxically melodramatic. He seems to think, and director Marc Forster...